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Not sure how to search for an answer to this since I'm not sure what the technical name for it is called, but I'm sure someone will know what I'm talking about.

I'm using FL Studio and I've noticed that in certain parts the sound will "get lower" as if two different instruments are conflicting with each other and Fl Studio doesn't produce both sounds at the right frequency. Any idea how to fix this? (If I made sense).

Thanks!
-Scott

Are you talking about two sounds interfering with each other and the overall sound being lowered? This could be to do with phasing, phase cancellation will lower the over all level of the sounds involved. MAybe you are not EQing things so that they have space in the mix though.

that would probably be phasing. i'm not familiar with fl but it may be lowering the volume automatically due to clipping, i know that renoise can do that

Sinestepper wrote:Are you talking about two sounds interfering with each other and the overall sound being lowered? This could be to do with phasing, phase cancellation will lower the over all level of the sounds involved. MAybe you are not EQing things so that they have space in the mix though.

This must be it. Thanks! I'll have to search around Google for some tutorials on how to fix this and properly EQ.

http://www.masteringmastering.co.uk/gainstructure.html

Use that to structure your track gains correctly.
EQ each track to avoid clashing frequencies.
You can do this either by applying a peak boost on an eq and scrolling through the frequencies to hear where the individual tracks are hitting or apply a spectrum analyzer to a track and look what each tracks fundamental frequencies are.
The frequency should then be cut or filtered out of the other tracks in the song.
Essentially creating space for each element within the overall mix.

Electric_Head wrote:http://www.masteringmastering.co.uk/gainstructure.html

Use that to structure your track gains correctly.
EQ each track to avoid clashing frequencies.
You can do this either by applying a peak boost on an eq and scrolling through the frequencies to hear where the individual tracks are hitting or apply a spectrum analyzer to a track and look what each tracks fundamental frequencies are.
The frequency should then be cut or filtered out of the other tracks in the song.
Essentially creating space for each element within the overall mix.

So in lamens terms I want each of the individual tracks to be hitting at different frequencies? Which will help with the phasing problem.

Each sound has a fundamental frequency where the sound is heard the most.
Where it has the most definition and clarity.
Quite often a kick for example will share frequencies with the sub.
You can either remove the frequencies from the kick to avoid phasing between the 2 sub frequencies or sidechain.
But that's not the point here.

You are trying to find the frequencies that are clashing.
So once again, if you are looking at a snare hitting at 200Hz for example.
You'd go into your other channels and remove that frequency from other sounds to ensure the snare comes through in the mix without anything muddying it.

http://www.themusicespionage.co.uk/wp-c ... are-EQ.png

Here, the pad has had the snare frequencies removed to avoid issues.
You'd also highpass this to remove sub and kick frequencies.

Using a spectrum analyzer like Voxengo Span (free) you can load the analyzer onto a track and it will illustrate the frequencies.
Look for the highest peak to see the frequency you're after for each individual sound.



You can also use this method to find problem frequencies maybe causing high, piercing sounds.

Thanks for the advice. I'm going to look into Voxengo Span for now to see if that can help me out with finding the proper frequencies for each sound.

I usually put Span on my master and just add my elements one at a time and eq as needed. It can be a but tedious but saves the headache of having to go back and fix things later. Most of the time you can get away with just a simple HP filter or taking a thin notch out of something.